


The Fledgling

by KoroMarimo



Category: Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate
Genre: Adopted Children, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, F/M, George Harrison - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Injury, John Lennon - Freeform, Just read it I promise it's good, Mental Health Issues, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Child Abuse, References to the Beatles, Ringo Starr - Freeform, Seras being the mom she is, Vampires, Violence, paul mccartney - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 04:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12161937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoroMarimo/pseuds/KoroMarimo
Summary: She was more bat than human. She had a horrible stench which accompanied her everywhere. She had an unquenchable thirst for blood and The Beatles, and she was the only "living" bloodline of the No Life King. She was Lydia Palmer; more than a handful for Seras, and yet a more than competent vampire. (eventual Schrödinger x OC)





	1. Lydia Fucking Palmer

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Goddamn I finally decided to make a good story about my OC Lydia. I also came back to pretty up the language and add more content to this chapter. I got an idea for this story after watching Dracula Untold and coming up with various reader inserts with a child vampire. I also received inspiration from the movie The Little Vampire, which was my favorite as a child. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Hellsing (c) Kouta Hirano
> 
> Lydia Palmer (c) Myheartstillbleedsforyou/KoroMarimo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can tell  
> From the scars on my arms,  
> And the cracks in my hips,  
> And the dents in my car,  
> And the blisters on my lips  
> That I'm not the carefullest of girls!  
> You can tell  
> From the glass on the floor,  
> And the strings that're breaking  
> And I keep on breaking more,  
> And it looks like I am shaking!  
> But it's just the temperature.  
> And then again  
> If it were any colder I could disengage  
> If I were any older I could act my age  
> But I don't think that you'd believe me...  
> It's not the way  
> I'm meant to be  
> It's just the way  
> The operation made me.

Seras had been undergoing various changes since the incident in Cheddar, none of which were particularly pleasant. The most disturbing of the changes was the awfully acute hearing that she had developed seemingly overnight. She could hear conversations between the Hellsing guards from anywhere across the grounds, the flutter of a moth's wings on the rooftops sounded like a helicopter landing directly in her ear canal, even the erratic beating of human hearts from afar hurt, every beat was a punch to her ear drum. It drove Seras mad beyond question when she picked up on any little noise in the house, manors had the uncanny ability of settling that was prevalent in all homes. Only these noises were more amplified; the hardy walls had a distinct voice with the tendency to make an echo throughout the bones of the building and into the basement. The usual settling noises had the tendency to give Seras nightmares, but nothing was as frightening as hearing the slurping outside her room every night.

It began the night she refused to drink the blood pack Walter had given to her to revive herself, Master Alucard had insisted that in order to become a proper vampire Seras had to consume the blood of other humans of her own free will. Doing so would completely erase all human traits which prevented her from activating her true vampiric nature. Then eventually, with proper grooming and the passage of time, the police girl would be able to achieve the status of her new master. Yet these devilish promises did nothing to convince the police girl to accept her new fate. Seras rejected the blood pack and left it out in the hallway for Walter to collect, much too scared to enter in the ranks of the undead. She could not understand how such promises of power could be beneficial, for humanity held a significance which connected her to her old life. She was not yet ready to give it up. When she heard footfall nearing her room she assumed the elderly butler was coming to scold her for not eating, and mentally she prepared herself to defend her desire for what was left of her humanity. It was then she noticed the rhythm of the steps. They were lacking the slight limping of the second step that Walter possessed and were also very quick, as though whoever it was had to nearly break out into a run to keep up with a more adult like pace. When the steps had stopped outside the door, it was then that Seras heard the dreaded slurping.

The noise was comparable to a restaurant patron who may have been eating a particularly watery soup, loud and unnerving to the listener with almost humorous undertones. Yet somehow it was more frightening considering the circumstances. For the sound was laced with undertones of a soft growl, as though a wolf may have learned to slurp his prey. The darkness did nothing to alleviate the fear, only added to it, and Seras felt very vulnerable. Then after a while, the noise made the police woman inexplicably angry when she realized she was not the only creature of the night in the manor. She thought it was Alucard who was making the noises to frighten her and she opened the door to speak to him, thinking foolishly in her mind that she could reprimand the mightiest of vampires. She poked her head out and opened her mouth, the first words she spoke was the name of her master in an overly whining tone, as though she were a child trying to have her way. Yet when she opened the door, there wasn't anyone there, and her blood pack was gone. A very queer chill made its way down her spine and caused her to slam the door shut, hand on her large chest trying to calm the beating of her heart.

This continued for many nights, and every single time the source of the mysterious sounds managed to thwart the police woman and vanish into the night. At first, Seras tried to seek answers from Walter and Sir Integra who probably had a reasonable explanation. After all, they were the head honchos of the estate so to speak, and perhaps they would be able to help Seras see reason and logic behind her childish fears. However, Sir Integra was always busy and had the tendency to shoo out Seras when she grew irritated of the constant questioning. Her overall attitude concerning the noise was that of nonchalance. Whatever the source, it was nothing worthy of the organization head's attention if it was contained to the house. Walter wasn't much help either, he often ignored the young vampire or told her to mind her own business. She was just a soldier, he had said. She didn't need to know everything that went on. That was solely the business of Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing and she had no obligation to reveal every secret the house contained. Unless Integra herself had given the order to have the noises eliminated they were to be left alone to their own devices. The Hellsing organization did not have time to deal with every single noise that went bump in the night, even if it was within their own walls.

Eventually, when Seras had exhausted all possibility of obtaining answers from the head of house she sought out answers from the next best source: a one Master Alucard, the very weapon that dealt with the bumps in the night and the creatures who made them. Though as of late he seemed to always be out of reach and aloof. Alucard always conveniently disappeared when he turned a corner when approached, or plain just ignored Seras whenever she called out to him and asked questions regarding the noises. After nearly a week Seras suspected something was amiss. He must have the answers. Why would he go to such great lengths to ignore her inquiries otherwise?

She finally had him cornered alone in his room one night. It had been a particularly rough assignment, and Alucard was presumably resting behind closed doors as per usual. He hadn't given explicit orders for visitors to avoid his domain, and Seras took this as an open ended invitation. However when she approached the door and prepared to knock, she was shocked to hear that the vampire lord was chuckling to himself and seemingly carrying on a conversation with thin air.

"No, she's no more a human than I am." He said, Seras could hear him shift about in his chair, "She may still smell like one but I promise you she's a vampire, despite her lowly status. Fear not, one day she will drink. And when that day comes perhaps I can begin to lessen my burden and pass the time here with you."

Seras was perplexed at first, who was Alucard talking to? Had he finally gone mad? Her investigation yielded more questions than answers, and she found herself listening to the door, waiting for some kind of a response. She soon found out that Alucard may have some shred of sanity left after all. An eerie sort of whisper hissed its reply to his words, sending that same familiar chill down her spine and making her quiver down to her shoes. The voice was rather low and too soft to make out the language exactly, it was as though the wind was responding with a gentle caress of a breeze. It was the voice of fall, rustling dead leaves and weaving the sounds into a hissing language that seemed to invite the chill of a summer long dead. Yet the noise was most definitely not the dead sounding voice of the wind. The voice was perhaps a little too human to be so detached from reality. Seras pressed her ear to the door, eager to try and decipher the words the windy hiss spoke. She made out certain words like "blood" and "neglect" though they seemed to have a sort of choppy pronunciation. She had never heard an accent like that before, and wondered vaguely what this creature was.

"Interesting… I didn't know that police girl was so adamant about preserving it." Alucard replied when the hissing was finished, "Well, if she continues to do so then you have my permission to eat her share. Just make sure Walter doesn't catch you. Wouldn't want you to lose an arm again would we?"

The voice hissed again, though this time it could have been laughing because of the way it mimicked a halting, throaty bark. Somewhere in that laughing a question had been posed, for Alucard's reply bared notes of acquiescence.

"Of course you can. We can't have you sneaking around like a criminal at all hours of the night. You might get careless and bite someone again, and then we'll really have a problem with Sir Integra. Take a bit to sustain yourself. It should hold you until you go to sleep for the day."

There was a shifting of clothing, and then the same slurping noises that always sounded outside of Seras' room started up, still accompanied by the same animalistic growling. At last! The blasted noise had revealed itself after all. It had taken weeks for the proof to be found in the pudding, but here it was. Seras couldn't take it anymore. She had the creature in plain sight to show that she was not crazy, yet there was still that stubborn doubt in her mind wondering if perhaps there was a bit of mania lurking within her mind. Utilizing all her strength, Seras threw open the large door which lead into Alucard's chambers.

"Master? Who are you talking to?" she demanded. Yet when she opened the door fully, the creature was nowhere to be found. There was only Alucard sitting in his big chair and no one else save for a darkish haze that covered the room, blotting the dim candlelight and making it seem as though the room was being viewed through murky water. Nothing particularly unusual was in sight, no shadow dodged behind Alucard, no sinister face leered from the darkness. There wasn't even any sign of a place where the creature had been supposedly feeding on the blood of the No Life King.

"Good evening." The Vampire Lord said pleasantly, "Is there something you need?"

"Master, I heard you talking to someone!" Seras accused, pointing a gloved finger in his direction, "You all have been avoiding my questions, even calling me crazy saying I'm imagining things. I've been feeling like a fool this whole time I've been living here. But I have proof now that I'm not crazy! I heard the noise in your room, and you were talking to it! Someone or something else is here!"

"Really? Who would be making noises besides myself, the walls?" Alucard sneered, though his eyes gleamed with amusement. He seemed to be holding back some crucial bit of conversation.

"I know there's someone in here!" she insisted, "I heard whispering! And that god awful slurping… It's horrible! What is it? What are you hiding?"

"Are you sure it's not just your imagination?" he said with a grin, "A lack of blood can sometimes cause mania in vampires you know. Walter has mentioned it more than once in passing that you've refused to drink blood-"

"Master I know you're lying!" Seras cried.

Alucard laughed, a loud halting sort of sound that made his joy seemed forced. Admittedly he knew when he was beaten and knew when he couldn't keep a straight face for a joke. Pride had not consumed his soul as it did in his youth, and he was willing to concede to the inevitable. He nonchalantly inclined his head towards the back of his chair, looking behind with a wicked smile that showed his eye teeth.

"The Police Girl's gone and ruined the game." He said, doing absolutely nothing to contain that shit eating grin, "Come on out now love. You might as well be formally introduced."

For a moment or two Seras wondered what it was she was supposed to look for. There was a moment of silence, a quiet anticipation that failed to yield any results. It was almost disappointing in a way, a very uneventful reveal of the monster that had been tormenting Seras for so long. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, two very large bright red eyes blinked curiously at Seras from behind Alucard's chair. It was a Cheshire cat like effect after that, the haze that covered the room congealed behind the vampire lord and solidified slowly into the form of a very tiny, yet very pale young girl.

"What on earth…" Seras murmured, her eyes widening in shock.

The little creature didn't move out from behind the No Life King, but continued to stare at Seras without blinking. It was very unsettling and unsuspecting. The whole event seemed to fall short of the expectations Seras had for this grand unveiling of the creature who spoke like the fall wind. Why, it looked as though perhaps this girl was more of a late night snack than a hideous, snarling beast.

"This is Lydia." Alucard said, his voice becoming soft and bearing an odd sort of fondness, "My first fledgling. Lydie, this is Seras. What do you say?"

"Er… Hello. How do you do?" Seras whispered, and offered her hand.

The child disappeared behind the chair when Seras leaned in on the pretense of shaking the child's hand (for she was still going to be polite despite the shock), but then reappeared sometime after to stare again. Now that she was able to get a good look, this "Lydia" looked as though she hadn't had a proper meal in ages. Her face was shrunken and pale underneath a mass of wry black curls which were tangled and strewn about her face, and her hand which clung to the back of Alucard's chair lingered there like an enormous spider with a flat palm and long, spindly fingers that fidgeted nervously every so often. She wore a thick turtleneck sweater that looked to be two sizes too big for her little body, and her thin legs were little more than frail sticks with knobby knees poking through the holes in her worn denim jeans. Her black canvas trainers were spotted here and there with dried blood, and the child kept digging them into the grimy floor as though she was trying to bore a hole in the stone.

"Ah… Hello?" Seras said carefully again.

Lydia said nothing. She kept her owlish gaze fixated the police girl, still as a statue and never once giving any indication that she possessed any sort of life. It was only now that she was fully materialized that Seras noticed the God awful stench permeating from Lydia, like a rotting piece of bloody meat left out in the open for too long. Not wanting to be rude but still feeling as though she would be sick, Seras began backing away very slowly away from the little girl.

"Mind your manners." Alucard chided, touching a gloved hand to the child's own, "What do we say?"

"… Hullo…" Lydia replied after a rather uncomfortably long silence. She didn't reach for Seras' extended hand and the police woman breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was Lydia covered in soil from head to toe, her fingernails were black with grime and the foulest smelling of all. There was a moment of awkward silence, both fledglings stared into each other's eyes as though sizing each other up. Evidently the taller of the two obtained some sort of confidence in the silent contest determining the pecking order, for the blonde woman puffed up her chest like a proud bird and found her voice after a moment.

"Are you the one that's been sneaking 'round my door and making noises then?" Seras demanded, forgetting her disgust and stepping forward now that she had at last found the perpetrator who made such frightening sounds in the dark.

Lydia averted the police woman's hawk-like gaze and began chewing on the turtleneck collar of her jumper, revealing rather filthy crooked fangs growing over her original eye teeth. Her eyes were fixated upon her shoes as they dug deeper into the grimy floor, and spittle had started dripping from her mouth. She looked the very picture of guilt.

"That would be the case. Seeing as how her silence is proof enough of her guilt." Alucard said, grinning at the child and shifting around to look at her, "Seems you've been sloppy with your sneaking around, little Nosferatu. What do you say to the police girl?"

Silence, then after a while Lydia began that disgusting slurping noise as she sucked up the spittle which accumulated in the thick wool of her collar. For a while no one moved. The tension in the room brought on by Lydia's silence and the question posed was palpable, broken only by the noise which echoed through the monotone. The suckling noises were driving Seras mad again, it was such an obnoxious sound. It even seemed to be getting on Alucard's nerves, for he nudged the little girl sharply with his elbow after a time to get her to stop. Seras marveled at his bravery. She wouldn't have dared to touch the dirty child with her nice clean uniform, especially with that stench that burned through her nostrils. Yet she was interested in how the reprimand worked, Lydia ceased her actions immediately and looked directly into Seras' eyes.

"Wasting food, give it to me." said Lydia.

Seras had to snap herself out of the shock of hearing a strong voice from such a shrunken little thing.

"Pardon?" she asked, twisting the hem of her uniform and trying not to regurgitate.

There was no response. Just the sound of cloth being ripped as the child began to chomp on her sweater collar again.

"Lydia's been taking your food and eating it for you." Alucard laughed, "That's the noise you've been hearing late at night. She's quite the sloppy eater."

"That's an understatement." Seras said before she could stop herself. Though it didn't bother her master as much as she thought it would. Quite the contrary, he was looking as though he couldn't hold enough of his laughter back no matter how much force he exerted to keep a straight face. His cheeks were trying to contain his laughter and puffed up with every failed attempt he made. One might have thought he was choking on his own words.

"You don't mind then if she takes your food?" he managed at last, "I don't believe she will stop stealing from you anytime soon."

"That doesn't matter." Seras replied, looking from Lydia to Alucard, "She can have what she wants, I just don't want her eating around my room! I can't stand that noise, it's too creepy… It sounds like some sort of monster trying to eat me in my sleep. I want her to take the food and go."

"Think you can do that Lydie?" Alucard asked.

"… Yes." Came Lydia's solemn reply. She studied Seras so intently that the woman could hardly stand to stare back.

"Very well then, Lydie has her extra food and the police girl will have peace at night. I'm glad there wasn't trouble. Now if there isn't anything else you need…"

Alucard indicated rather rudely to the door while Lydia began crawling up onto his lap. Again Seras marveled at his patience and bravery. Never in a million years would she let someone so filthy crawl all over her, especially when she knew the odor must be overpowering with the child directly under his nose and nuzzling around his collar. Alucard undid his cravat and unbuttoned his pristine white shirt, offering the child the pale skin of his neck which she took greedily in her mouth with a sickening crunch, teeth scraping against bone. Lydia then began to drink her fill of the master's blood, slurping and gulping and making even worse sounds now that she was no longer suckling plastic. It was disgusting. Even more disturbing was the fact that Alucard seemed immensely apathetic to the whole situation, the bite was treated as though it was nothing, and in fact the vampire lord encouraged the child to eat as though she was a nursing baby. His fingers ran through Lydia's tangled hair, and he continued talking to her as though Seras was no longer there. The entire display was enough to make anyone's stomach turn. Seras couldn't stand to stay, yet she couldn't help looking back at the little monster as she exited, for one could hardly call the creature a child anymore after this display.

She was startled to find Lydia's blood red eyes were fixated directly on her retreating form, regarding her cautiously and scrunching up her nose in a snarl as Seras watched her feed.

What had the police girl gotten herself into this time?


	2. Speak of the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter  
> Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here  
> Here comes the sun, here comes the sun  
> And I say it's all right...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I must say I'm pretty proud that my fanfiction is doing well so far. Gives me encouragement as a writer to know that I'm able to write an effective story. Thank you to all who have made it through the first chapter with me.
> 
> It seems like in the English dub that Seras' voice actress was trying to mimic a Scouse accent (at least to my ears), so naturally I headcannoned her original hometown as being in Liverpool.
> 
> Hellsing (c) Kouta Hirano
> 
> Lydia Palmer (c) Myheartstillbleedsforyou/KoroMarimo
> 
> The Beatles rights belong to Sony/ATV

There were no more nights spent shaking in fear from Lydia's noises. Seras at last was finally able to focus solely on sleeping and honing her skills for each uncomfortable "cleaning spree" Sir Integra sent her on. The following months were nothing but guts and gore, Seras accompanied Alucard on various trips in order to clean up the newest outbreak of what he called "ghouls", reanimated bodies of non-virgin humans which had a penchant for eating human flesh. Fighting these disgusting members of the living dead was taxing both mentally and physically. Some mornings Seras would stumble into her bed and sleep until the dark of the night stirred her from her bed and out of her quarters, forgetting that her blood soaked uniform was still on and staining the lovely sheets.

As the summer months progressed a heat wave had struck all of the English countryside, never mind any respite in the form of an English Summer filled with rainy days spent indoors. The daytime hours were brutal even in the dark depths of Hellsing Manor where the groping hands of humidity reached even further down than Seras thought possible. She couldn't sleep at all during the day as time progressed later into the month. The heat cooked her and caused her skin to emit a rather nasty sort of smell that Walter informed her was due to the fact that she was merely a walking corpse, not yet a true vampire which would have allowed her to be free from such awful side effects. To prevent her from rotting any further, Sir Integra ordered the young woman deeper into the chasms of the basement where the heat still had not managed to reach, and her lovely bed was discarded in favor of an old coffin lined with the soil of her hometown in Liverpool.

"This is where we keep both Lydia and Alucard." Walter told her as they walked, sidestepping to avoid a small crucifix which hung over the threshold, separating the lowest level of the basement from the upper, "I understand you have finally been acquainted with our resident thief."

"Yes, I have met her." Seras said, shifting the weight of her coffin which she held with ease. She was slightly angry that she would have to trade her blessed silence and wonderful bed for Lydia's disgusting habits again. For a moment she wished that she could just cook in her old room.

"But Walter, isn't there any other place I might stay that's not so… Batty?"

She indicated to the thousands upon thousands of bats hanging on the ceiling, many of which stared down at her and the old butler as they progressed deeper into the basement. The bats were too quiet; none of them exhibited the usual chattering or movements, save for one or two who swooped overhead to find a more preferable roost. Most stared at Seras with such intensity lingering in their red, beady little eyes that she couldn't help but feel uneasy. It was as though they were judging her.

"Not to worry, Lydia's familiars are docile unless threatened. They shouldn't be too bothersome." Walter responded nonchalantly.

"These all belong to her?" she asked, awe evident in her voice as she continued to stare at the massive hordes of furry little creatures. How could any vampire keep track of so many? It must be a chore to feed all of them, she decided, perhaps that was why Lydia was always stealing from her.

"Yes… It's a dreadful task to clean up after them, and they share the insatiable appetite of their mistress. Anyway, here we are. Please come in, I'll give us a better light."

He stopped at an open door which lead into Seras' new chambers and invited her in. The police girl entered the room, marveling at the chill and the spaciousness of the new room when Walter lighted the lamps one by one.

"You'll be staying next to Lydia," Walter said, wiping the simple furnishings with an old rag, "Alucard is within earshot if you need him. Make sure you lock up properly at night if you do not want to be bothered. Sir Integra does not usually keep Lydia shut up in her room during the summer months, and she can be quite the noisy neighbor when left to her own devices."

Seras turned to close the door and, speak of the Devil, saw the child peeking at her through the darkness of the hallway. Lydia's worn shoes never once crossed the threshold, however. Instead she stood waiting, always hanging back in the shadows and looming back into view, squinting as though the light was hurting her eyes.

"Why doesn't she come in?" Seras had wondered aloud.

"She is afraid of me." The old butler replied. He had only to take one step forward to prove his point.

When she caught sight of the movement, Lydia suddenly dropped to the floor on all fours and arched her back. Her spindly fingers were lost in the large sleeves of her sweater as she covered them, shielding them from the light within the room. She proceeded to wrinkle her nose and hiss, showing the old man her teeth as though in feeble warning. With a scuttling noise she then began crawling backwards into the shadows, and both Walter and Seras heard a large door slam shut.

"Barmy little creep isn't she?" Seras murmured. The butler nodded in agreement, straightening out his gloves as though he had just come out of a scuffle.

"That is unfortunately what happens when you let a child wander for years with Alucard as a father." He responded.

"She's his child?" Seras asked, incredulous that the king of the vampires had sired that shriveled little corpse. The resemblance was faint, if Lydia had just an ounce more of weight perhaps then the features would come into focus.

"Not necessarily," Walter said, "They are not of true blood relation. He found her orphaned many years ago, though where that spawn of the devil came from I don't know. There was not an ounce of humanity in her when I began my service to the Hellsing Organization, and frankly I don't believe there ever was any to begin with. She could have come from anywhere, wild as she is."

"Is that why Master doesn't really control her?" The police woman set her coffin down in a lone corner of the room and perched upon it, "He seems to just let her do as she pleases. I've never really even seen them doing anything together, save for her feeding off his blood."

"My dear, he does not bother with silly things like control when it comes to Lydia." Replied Walter rather sardonically, "He is accustomed to letting her have her way most of the time, the neglectful sort of parent when she isn't bothering him for food. But I will admit she is handy when it comes to any large scale outbreak of ghouls, so I suppose his unorthodox parenting has some merit after all."

"Oh… Well… I suppose that can be useful." She said, and became silent.

Walter handed the young woman her sustenance for the night, moving to and fro making things tidy as he went. He left rather abruptly after his job was complete, saying no more on the matter of Lydia and not even bothering with a goodbye he retreated into the darkened hallway. Seras looked up to see Lydia scurry past the open door, pursuing the old butler on hands and knees like a spider. All was silent for a moment and Seras thought that was the end of poor old Walter, when suddenly Lydia let forth a chilling screech.

The child crawled passed the door again, her fingers stuffed into her mouth and blood leaking out of her lips every time she opened up to whimper. Seras was horrified, what had he done to that little creature?

"Oi! You're bleeding!" Seras called out. She went towards the child and extended a hand. While common sense would have normally told her not to approach, her overwhelming good heartedness won out and she felt compelled to help the little girl. After all, she still had that much of her humanity. She may as well keep it in use for the time being.

"Here, let me help y-"

Her words were drowned out by Lydia's hissing, flecks of blood came forth from her mouth in a spray before she continued her crawling and disappeared into her own quarters. For an hour the police woman simply perched back on her coffin, listening to the mournful wailing happening in the next room over and becoming lost in a sea of conflicting morals. On the one hand, she was somewhat giddy that the little beast had been put in her place. This could mean that whenever Seras felt threatened she had only to call on the butler who bore so much ill will against the child. Then again, Lydia still was a child, vampire or not. Perhaps not having a proper upbringing had made her so terrifying.

 _I can relate to that…_  Seras thought bitterly,  _So who am I to set myself up as judge and jury?_

Eventually, her empathy got the better of her. Seras approached the child's room with blood pack in hand, wishing to make a peace offering to the child who was probably still very much hurt judging from the whimpering noises she was making.

The door to Lydia's room was slightly ajar, and in the dim candlelight Seras could see childish scribbles (in what she suspected was dried blood) of various figures which resembled men in suits. There was one figure in particular that had various arrows pointing to it, and underneath the figure in a five year old's sloppy penmanship was the word "Linon" written, along with an aged newspaper clipping taped bellow.

With much curiosity, Seras peeked into the pitch black room. The light of the candles illuminated Lydia's back, she seemed to be holding something and sitting on the dark wood of a coffin. The child rocked back and forth, still crying softly before opening her mouth to speak.

" _Sun sun sun._ " said Lydia.

Seras shook her head in shock when she heard Lydia's soft voice. Was she addressing someone in the room?

" _Sun sun sun_." insisted Lydia.

Sun? Why would she keep repeating that word over and over? The child was just an overload of curious behavior. Even more curious was when the child inhaled deeply and let forth another soft, mournful howl from her throat before repeating her word again.

" _Sun sun sun._

_Sun sun sun._

_Awoooooooo_."

There was an unmistakable sound of guitar strings being strummed, wailing as they were tuned to the right pitch. So the child was playing guitar... That was almost too normal of an action for Seras to believe. How could someone so abnormal take interest in an everyday hobby, especially one that was so uniquely human in nature?

At first, Seras thought the child was merely strumming the strings for fun, with no intended purpose behind the sloppy notes she played. She was almost ready to leave the blood pack and let the child resume her playing when suddenly the guitar made a purposeful series of notes, forming a tune that made Seras freeze and nearly tear up. It was that song. Again, after all this time… How many times had she thought of that song since her youth, or avoided it every time it played on her radio back home? It was her mother's favorite song, the last thing she sang aloud to with the radio the morning of her death day. The very sound of it made Seras think of her mother's warm smile, the smell of breakfast cooking on the stove, the soft squelching noises of an eyeball being gouged out with a fork. Funny how one simple tune could bring so many memories flooding back into consciousness.

When at last it seemed as though Lydia was pleased with the guitar's sound, she ended the loop of the first few bars and began to play the song in its entirety. It took her some time to speak again, but when she did her childish voice was surprisingly refreshing.

" _Here comes the sun, du dun du du. Here comes the sun when I say-_ "

" _It's alright…_ " the words were out of Seras' mouth before she could stop herself.

But this did not deter the child from playing out the lovely melody. Instead, she merely continued to sing in her high pitched squeak of a voice while Seras had to strain to keep up, covering her mouth sometimes when the emotion was just too much to bear. They sang the first half of that lovely Beatles tune without qualm, the lyrics of a long cold winter filled with loneliness contrasting the hot summer night that permeated the upstairs levels. Lydia kept her eyes on her guitar and Seras had her eyes screwed shut as she tried not to cry. How hard it was to keep herself steady when deep down that damn song made her want to rip apart into a thousand pieces. It wasn't until the notes began to quicken that Lydia's eyes closed as well, turning towards the open door and letting her nimble little fingers pluck from memory as she continued on with her solo.

" _Sun, sun, sun… Here it comes_." Lydia sang, letting her voice die down as Seras repeated after her. The police woman got as far as repeating Lydia's last line for a fourth time before she stopped abruptly, choking on a sob that caught in her throat.

"I've forgotten the rest." Seras murmured quietly, tears running down her face.

Lydia said nothing, the guitar playing stopped abruptly. She merely watched with glowing red eyes as the police woman broke down before her, the blood pack falling forgotten to the floor as she sobbed into her own hands.

Eventually, Lydia's powerful stench seemed like it was right under Seras' nose and nearly made her choke. The fumes stirred her out of her stupor, and when she looked up she found that it stank so because Lydia was inches from her face. She was watching her cry, the ghost of a mildly interested look lingering on her face.

For hours it seemed like they stared into one another's eyes. Seras was slightly afraid that if she broke eye contact something awful would happen and struggled to keep her gaze steady, while Lydia merely frowned as she looked into the other woman's deep blue eyes.

"Little darling…" Lydia murmured.

Seras was much too overcome to even try and understand what Lydia wanted. The child was relentless, and repeated the words once more while nimble fingers played out the tune.

Nothing. Lydia hummed softly to get back on track, yet there was still no response from the police girl. This was obviously making the child very angry.

"Little darling." Lydia insisted, then stopped the guitar when she realized Seras wasn't going to sing anymore.

The connection was instantly broken, Lydia dropped to her hands and knees. The guitar made a mournful sound as she let it drop to the hard stone floor, though miraculously it stayed whole. She hissed and lunged forward, sending the older woman scurrying out of the doorway and back into the safety of her own room. Lydia's door slammed shut again, and Seras could hear her continuing the song without her.

Without another word, Seras settled into her own coffin to sleep off the horrible memories. She nearly forgot to shut the door and made move to do so, then at the last minute thought better of it and left it ajar before settling down to a fitful sleep.

The music was still upsetting, but she had to admit: it was the most wonderful feeling in the world to hear it sung by someone else.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I read the news today, oh boy  
> About a lucky man who made the grade  
> And though the news was rather sad  
> Well I just had to laugh, man  
> I saw the photograph, man...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The second chapter was my biggest hurdle to overcome as a writer. This chapter runs a little long so please be patient. It gained momentum of its own before I could do anything to stop it. There may be revisions here and there on previous chapters so look out for those. I like to complete chapters and re-edit them later on when I want to pretty them up. I'm such a perfectionist that way.
> 
> If you want to know what Lydia is humming, I would recommend searching YouTube for "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles. The song is from their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". I really recommend listening to it for this chapter. Especially in the beginning. John Lennon's parts really capture Seras' feelings and have an almost melancholy atmosphere to them that I feel perfectly resonates within this story.
> 
> Hellsing © Kouta Hirano
> 
> Lydia Palmer © KoroMarimo/Myheartstillbleedsforyou
> 
> The Beatles rights are owned by Sony/ATV

Not everything was peachy keen being a Hellsing vampire. There were always doubts which plagued the mind of the newest operative; as the weeks went by as though in a dream Seras always thought things like she should have never have gone on patrol that night in Cheddar. She shouldn't have chosen to become an immortal of the night and instead should have just died, rather than cling to her life and become more like the little girl who lived the next room over. Her urges for blood were becoming stronger by the day, humanity was slipping through her fingers and she felt sometimes that it was only a matter of time before she joined Lydia in scaling the walls and chattering amongst the millions of bats on the ceiling. Yet if she had to be honest with herself the child was not the bane of Seras' existence as before. Quite the contrary, Lydia was now surprisingly tolerable and approachable.

The police girl had learned to live with the inhuman behavior of her small neighbor. Ever since the singing incident Lydia would often watch Seras from the doorway of her quarters as the woman went about her business. Lydia would squat down beyond the door remaining stationary and docile. If she became bored after a while she would do a strange thing such as dissolving into mist or crawling up the walls to join her familiars. If Alucard entered the room to speak about a new assignment, Lydia was no longer shy about crossing the threshold. She would always be hiding behind his protective form and watching Seras from the corner of her eye. It was during these little visits with Alucard that Seras had even managed to approach Lydia on various occasions to hand her a pack of blood which was always readily accepted. Mrs. Victoria had always said when she was alive that the quickest way to a man's heart was through his stomach (she often said this whenever Mr. Victoria's moods were improved with dinner). Apparently mother's tidbits of wisdom not only helped in improving father's moods, they also excelled at coaxing little vampires out of their shell. There were hardly any hissing incidents now that Lydia associated Seras with food. Instead of mistrust, there now existed a sort of mutual understanding between the two. Though the understanding could have hardly been called friendship. There was some sort of gap that Seras had not managed to quite bridge, for Lydia was still watchful and quiet as ever and never showed the slightest bit of affection to her new provider. Still Seras persisted in forging some sort of relationship. After all, the basement was a lonely place when Alucard or Walter were not there.

Sometimes when the loneliness was too much to bear and there were sleepless mornings Seras would talk to Lydia if she happened to be in the doorway. She would spend the morning telling the child about the latest mission or ghoul killing and the places she and Alucard had been around the English countryside. With words she painted lovely pictures of moonlit forests, sleepy towns and even the shimmering lights of the city at which she had been so happy to see again. Though there was often no sign she was listening, Seras had the feeling Lydia enjoyed hearing about the outside world. Lydia would always remain perfectly still when Seras described places, and if she happened to look over Seras would notice her eyes sparkling as though she was imagining everything herself. Never once had the child been out of the basement since Seras had arrived, and she suspected that Lydia had been down here longer than anyone was willing to let on.

This morning was no different than all the others, Seras was making her room tidy and chatting idly to Lydia, making up for her week long absence and telling the child of a couple that had recently turned vampire.

"I killed a girl today Lydie." Seras told her, unpacking some nightshirts from a box. She had taken to calling the child by Alucard's nickname for her, it had a more familiar ring to it and often the child gave a better response when addressed as such.

Lydia hummed the opening chords to "A Day in the Life", tapping her shoes with a pointy fingernail. She had seemed almost elated when she saw Seras return to the dark recesses of the basement. Though Seras suspected it had more to do with the blood she had saved for the child rather than her presence alone.

Now Lydia sat in the doorway to Seras' room, scarcely paying any mind to the police woman now that she had eaten her fill, but every so often she would glance in the police woman's general direction. The dawn was here and there was a new night of work looming ahead, but for some reason Seras just couldn't get to sleep. She figured if she could not sleep off the woes of the night before, she may as well get her new mess unpacked and cleaned up. The room she occupied in the basement now had a few boxes scattered around it, for a bitter old landlady had cleared out the flat Seras had been renting some time ago. What was left of her things had been procured by Walter at the behest of Sir Hellsing. The sofa, the mattress and the old television set had been claimed by some vulture of a neighbor who had happened to witness the eviction. All that remained were a few toiletries, Seras' prized CD collection, a multitude of books, shoes, and some old clothes that had been picked over and forgotten.

"I killed a girl and her boyfriend." Seras said, frowning somewhat as she held up a ratty old t shirt full of holes.

"She and that nasty blighter were going 'round the countryside killing families. I shot her from far away like it was nothing and I could see her plain as if it were day outside." Seras said, folding some underwear, "Everything was so bright, even though the only light had come from the moon. I saw the leaves of the trees fluttering like pennants in the wind and I saw the bullet hit her right in the spine, and the exit wound almost caused her heart to shoot out of her chest and the trees turned from this lovely emerald color to crimson. She fell on the road and hit like she was a bag of wet cement and for one second I thought she actually deserved it because of what she did to that little girl and her family."

Lydia began to mouth the words to her song softly, keeping her voice at no more than a faint whisper.

"I shouldn't have done that." Seras murmured, her voice cracking, "Maybe I should have let her get away… Maybe God is angry with me because I punished his own and didn't let Him be the judge and now he's going to punish me."

Seras couldn't help wiping a tear away from her face. That's all she seemed to do lately was cry. Cry for the people she killed and especially for the old life she left behind. This was one night that she would have been thankful for at least some kind of response, though she knew that none would ever really come. She tugged at an old shirt and couldn't bring herself to fold it, setting it beside her while Lydia went quiet. Seras turned to see Lydia watching her closely, squinting some from the dim light of the room before looking down at her feet, plucking the shoelaces which were black with all sorts of dust and dirt.

"Well… It's too late to think about that now." Seras said after a while, collecting herself long enough to continue the task at hand, "Now I've got to sort through all this mess. You'd think Mrs. Portman would have at least phoned the police station to see if I was alive first before clearing out my things… Then they could have told her properly that I was good and dead, but I doubt she would have any sympathy. It would only strengthen her resolve to get my junk out of the flat faster."

"Why?"

Seras jumped when she heard Lydia's voice. She turned quickly to see the child still engaged in her shoes, but she knew she heard her speak.

"Did you just…" Seras ventured.

Lydia said nothing.

"Er…" Seras said, still a bit shell shocked from receiving a response but taking it in stride none the less, "Mrs. Portman is one of those types who doesn't really care for excuses, no matter what they are. In fact every day I was always under threat of eviction… That means she was trying to make me get out. Do you understand?"

She felt the elaboration and ensuing question unnecessary, but had provided it because Lydia's face had shown confusion.

"They made me get out too." Lydia said softly after a while.

"Huh?" Seras stopped folding and turned back around to see the child looking contemplative. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, evidently opting for complete vagueness of nature instead of a more concise answer.

"She said I did sins…" replied Lydia, "He said… he said that we were punished because I was…"

She paused, looking as though she was trying to think of the word.

"Lazy." She finally said, her lips curling over her teeth as though the word had left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Who said that Lydie?" Seras asked.

She didn't answer. Seras tried to venture for an answer a second time, her voice much more gentle.

"Who told you that horrible thing Lydie? Was it Master Alucard? Or Walter? Did Sir Integra tell you that maybe?"

Lydia shook her head vigorously. No, apparently it wasn't anyone here at the estate who had spouted such abuse. The police woman half expected to hear that it had been Walter.

"Who Lydie?" Seras cooed, her voice lowered to almost a whisper, "Who was it then?"

Instead of responding to the questions posed, Lydia's eyes screwed shut. Her brows knitted together in a frown as she twisted her long sleeves in her bony hands. Slowly her arms moved to her abdomen where she cradled her stomach through the wool of her jumper. Her canvas shoes scraped the floor as she got down on her knees, shivering the entire time though the cold had never seemed to bother her before. She then did something that was innately more peculiar than her usual bat-like antics; Lydia began leaning forward and curling into a ball, not stopping until her forehead was pressed into the grimy stone floor of the basement. Her hair was in tangles and strewn about the floor, and she looked like some kind of oddly shaped turtle with her back hunched over. There she remained, curled up and clutching her stomach, staying still as a statue.

"Lydie?!" Seras cried, "What are you doing?"

There was only silence. Lydia remained curled up like a pill bug and didn't budge however many times Seras called out to her.

Eventually, Seras' screeches had summoned Alucard from his quarters. In between silencing her infernal racket and ignoring her wordless points to the child, Alucard informed her that there would be a new assignment in two days' time. There was a rather nasty outbreak of ghouls in Northern Ireland, near a place called Badrick, and it was to be their usual job of cleaning up the mess. Interestingly enough, he also mentioned that young Lydia would be accompanying them this time. It was by order of Sir Integra that Lydia be allowed to take care of the mess rather than sacrifice much needed ammunition. The stores of silver bullets were running low, and it would be another month before a new shipment could be procured in time to meet the increase in demand for clean ups. Lydia's intervention would be the cheapest alternative to sending in a rush order. While Alucard spoke casually to Seras about the equipment she would need to bring on this journey, Seras couldn't help but keep glancing at Lydia who had remained stationary the entire time. She half expected Lydia's eyes to be gleaming just hearing about the exciting prospects of the kill, but not even the treat of leaving the basement to eat had managed to coax her out of her protective ball.

"Uh… Master? Lydia…" she trailed off, pointing to the child as though she had gone mute.

"What about her?" Alucard had asked, looking rather irritated at being interrupted.

"She's…"

What  _was_  wrong with that girl? Was she dying? In pain? Lydia must have been if she hadn't moved from that spot for so long.

"Oh that." He said, glancing briefly at his fledgling and changing his tone of voice as though he had come to a sudden realization, "She must have gotten a stomach ache."

"A stomach ache!" Seras burst out at this ridiculous conclusion, "How in the world could that  _thing_  get a stomach ache? She drinks blood! Are you having me on master?!"

Apparently she would never find out. Alucard said nothing in response but instead approached Lydia, prodding her leg with his boot.

"Get up off the floor Lydia." He said.

She didn't respond even to the mighty vampire king, and if possible scrunched up more tightly.

"I said get up." Alucard commanded, "You're acting like a child."

His tone of voice caused Lydia to flinch and peek a gleaming red eye up at him. She still did not move, but she did let out a whimper as though trying to gain his sympathy. Evidently it did not work, for he prodded her a little more roughly this time and caused her to tighten up again.

"If you don't get up now," he began, ignoring her pretense of vulnerability and becoming impatient, "You're not going with us to get rid of the ghouls, and Walter is going to give you the medicine so you'll stay in your coffin like the last time I had to leave the country. Do you want that Lydia?"

When the name "Walter" came out of Alucard's mouth immediately Lydia sprang up off the ground. There was a patch of dirt on her forehead from where she had been pressing it into the floor, and her jeans were ruined and stained with black grime. Alucard shook his head in disgust.

"Clean up your face if you can't manage anything else." He said, "You're filthy."

Lydia complied, rubbing her forehead on the sleeve of her jumper until the grime remained only in faint traces here and there. Alucard nodded his approval.

"Good girl." He said, as though speaking to a dog. Lydia looked at him rather expectantly. She pointed once to his neck with a bony finger, her large eyes casting a pleading glance.

"Go on to my room." He told her, "I'll feed you when I'm done here."

Lydia looked at Seras once more before obeying, their eyes met, and Seras couldn't help but feel alarmed at how quickly the pain had come and gone in her face. There was absolutely nothing to indicate that she had even had a tantrum. Now Lydia blinked serenely at the young woman, devoid of any sort of suffering and looking almost eager. She took off running to Alucard's room at his second urging.

"As I said, you won't need any substantial weapons." Alucard said, resuming his talk to a rather confused police girl, "Just something that will be able to make up for whatever Lydia neglects to eat. Keep in mind to use your ammo sparingly, don't waste it on anything that's only half eaten. Whatever moves just let me know and I'll be sure Lydia cleans it up."

"Ah but Master… About Lydia-"

"I said it was a stomach ache." He stated, raising his hand as though he'd had enough, "That's what she calls them. It's more of a tantrum if anything. Don't worry about it."

"It's not just that." Seras said, standing up from her place on the floor and speaking with a newfound seriousness, "If she's to be going with us there are a few questions I'd like answered. It helps if I know exactly who I'm placing trust on if there's a risk of being killed."

Alucard smirked. Seras was a willful little thing when she wanted to be.

"You have nothing but questions when it comes to Lydia." He replied, "And your curiosity will perhaps one day be your downfall if you continue to pursue it. But… I suppose it's only fair that you have some sort of idea of what you'll be getting into once she goes along with us. If tonight ends well, Sir Integra will be ordering her to accompany us more often."

He pulled up a chair and sat down, watching as Seras followed suit and drew in closer as though he was about to divulge some ancient secret. The lamps were low, casting an eerie gloom about the stone room and illuminating the few boxes that remained intact. Everything was quiet. There was absolutely nothing that gave away the bright morning going on in the floors above the basement. Seras found that if she listened closely to the silence around her, she could here Lydia's shoes scraping around in Alucard's room, pacing around and awaiting his return. Alucard waited for Seras to become situated comfortably before opening his mouth to speak.

"What would you like to know?" he asked.

Seras did not speak for a long time, choosing her words carefully and mulling over each one before asking her questions.

"Who exactly is Lydia?" she began, "Why is she so wild? Where does she come from? How old is she?"

Alucard smiled, and inhaled before beginning.

"Her birth name was Lydia Palmer, she doesn't take kindly to her surname so it is omitted altogether now. She comes from a small town in England, though the settlement she lived in could have hardly been called a town because of the small population and crippling poverty which plagued the area. It was hardly worthy of any sort of recognition, it didn't have a formal name and consisted mostly of a community of field laborers who could not afford to leave the country."

Seras opened her mouth to ask another question, but Alucard was much quicker. His next response answered her unasked question.

"As for her age, I have estimated that she was approximately twelve years old when I turned her. She might have been younger, I couldn't really decide at first because she's so small. For now Sir Integra and I estimate her approximate chronological age at three hundred and eighty years old."

He sat back and went quiet, placing a finger to his lips in thought.

"It'll be three hundred and eighty one in two months' time, at the beginning of October." He admitted with a smile of sharp, white teeth, "That's the anniversary of her turning."

"Three hundred and eighty one…" Seras echoed. She was in awe of vampirism and its power. Lydia had managed to maintain her youthful appearance for quite a long time, save for the shrunken face and impossibly skinny fingers. Perhaps the monster in her had won out in the end for those parts.

"I do understand that I still have not answered your previous question." Alucard replied. Seras nodded vigorously.

"You haven't. Just because she's old doesn't excuse her… behavior. She must have been in a right state when you found her. What sort of place was the orphanage where she lived?"

"Orphanage?" Alucard asked, looking somewhat confused.

"I assume you adopted her from an orphanage in her town. Walter said you found her orphaned." Seras asked.

"Abandoned is more accurate." Alucard said with gentle correction, "Anyway, they didn't have anything like that back in those days, especially in her settlement. It was much too small for anything but a few houses and a crude meeting house."

"Meeting house?" Seras asked, "You mean a town hall?"

"Yes and no." he replied, "It was a multifunctional sort of building. A courtroom some of the time and a place of worship on the Sabbath days. I remember Sundays being the time when it was the most crowded. There had to be some beacon of hope for those townsfolk. They'd been much too poor to leave the country, they didn't even have anything that could have given them a fresh start here. No working tools, no food, not even adequate shelter for the winter months. That was one time where I honestly believed that God alone provided for them. No one else seemed to at least."

"That doesn't make sense." Seras contradicted, "Surely someone could have helped if they were devout in those days. Perhaps the church-"

Here she stopped because Alucard had begun to laugh. It was a halting, mean sound, as though the idea of that poor settlement receiving help was inconceivable.

"Those fools had abandoned the church of their birth a long time ago." He laughed, "That's why the ones who could afford it left. They were no longer welcome here in England, and frankly I don't believe they would have wanted to stay if they could. Their ways were so miserable and appallingly uptight that history has shown us those people were willing to do anything for a bit of sport. Look at the trials that happened after they left. All those innocent women…"

And here he trailed off again, unable to keep his happiness at the people's misfortune in check.

"Master…" Seras said, growing somewhat uneasy at his amusement. There was something that he was just not telling her. He was deliberately leaving a key point of information out.

"What kind of people would be devout to God yet abandon the church? And how would they have anything to do with Lydia's current behaviors? You're not making any sense at all."

Here she looked directly into his eyes, and asked the question that had been plaguing her mind since Alucard had gone into his tangent about these strange people.

"Who were they exactly?" she asked.

"There were many names for them as the years went on." Alucard said, ceasing his laughter yet remaining giddy as though he had told a very funny joke, "So many derogatory names including the great ones Lydia and I came up with after she became a vampire. But if I told you them, you wouldn't have the slightest idea of what I was talking about. For now we shall simply address them as the majority of history has decided to remember them by, the name I am positive you know them by as well considering you've had twelve years of education under your belt. Though I must admit 'Puritan' doesn't really capture their idiocy as fine as Lydia's insults do. You must remind me to tell you some of them when we depart to Badrick. It will give us a good laugh before we clean up the vampire trash Ireland has to offer."


	4. Badrick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imagine there's no heaven.  
> It's easy if you try.  
> No hell below us,  
> Above us only sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to add a TRIGGER WARNING! to this chapter. It contains mentions of childhood abuse, domestic violence and gore that may not be suitable for those who have the aforementioned triggers. Just a forewarning before you proceed…
> 
> I got inspired to write more after watching some episodes of Hellsing and reading the manga, where I get most of my sources for Hellsing cannon. It disappoints me at how much information was omitted entirely from the manga when the more cannon anime was made, and don't get me started about the old anime… I have no idea what went on there, but I must admit I did enjoy the snippets of Seras' life beyond just being a soldier. Future chapters may be a little delayed because of college life and stuff… I have so much crap to do that some nights I just sit and look at my computer wishing it would blow up… Anyways, I'm ranting again, so let's continue on with our story.
> 
> Hellsing © Kouta Hirano
> 
> Lydia Palmer © Myheartstillbleedsforyou/KoroMarimo
> 
> The Beatles Rights © Sony/ATV

There was a sickening crunch of teeth breaking bone. The moans of the dead filled the dark hallways of the building where the outbreak had taken place. Fresh blood masked the scent of rot that had clung to a little girl, and for the first time in thirty seven years the same little girl had been allowed to see the outside world. She drank everything in greedily, inhaling the fresh scent of death before beginning her work.

Seras brought up the rear and watched in morbid fascination as Lydia tore her way through hordes of ghouls using tooth and nail. Blood coated her face, clothes and any other place it could reach. She had such an interesting method of killing these mindless beings that she moved almost like clockwork. Lydia began by ramming headlong into them and shoving them down, using her canvas shoes to mash in their heads with ease once they were floored. She would then tear into their chest cavities, taking whatever organs she could into her mouth that were the most prevalent with postmortem staining and sucking the putrid blood up. When she was fully sated with the blood she would take something else such as an arm or whatever she could carry before leaving the dregs of her feast to her bats and moving on to the next victim. It happened so quickly, such an efficient little method of eating that Seras had hardly seen fit to shoot save for one or two of the mindless servants who had failed to meet their death by Lydia's shoes.

"She's not very particular about what she eats." Alucard's words swam in Seras' head and she turned around abruptly, expecting him to be standing there behind her. He was not there, probably still moseying around on the first floor waiting for the girls to draw out the head vampire. Seras decided that she had simply imagined his voice. Their conversation from the night before had not been able to leave her mind, and Master's nonchalant attitude throughout the explanation of Lydia's upbringing amongst the harsh Protestant separatists had haunted Seras at random intervals throughout the trip.

When they had arrived in Badrick after a seven hour journey and Lydia was not yet coming out of the sleep induced by her sedatives (The "sedatives" were holy silver needles piercing her flesh at key points on her body and generous amounts of tranquilizers, for they had to keep her quiet while around humans.), Seras had still not been able to even look her master in the eye. Instead her gaze remained focused on Lydia who had been snoring loudly in Alucard's arms and looking for all intents and purposes like a sleeping baby, as though her past had never existed. Yet now the pretense of innocence was gone, Lydia's eyes were wide open and her appetite was back with all the rage of hell radiating from what was left of her soul.

"Lydia's hunger is remarkably insatiable," the Vampire King had said, "Probably a result of being turned on the brink of death by malnutrition. I doubt her parents ever had enough to make a proper meal for themselves. The land those people chose was of such poor quality that hardly anything survived for long; crops withered, cattle found no place to graze, and there was an obscene amount of pests which plagued the land with disease. But they were a stubborn bunch, insisting on squatting in that ugly patch of land and determined to keep up their new customs. Evidently their mealtime customs didn't seem to favor the little ones, the only food Lydia was permitted to eat were leftover scraps from her parent's own stingy portions of rotten vegetables and whatever small game the father had managed to catch. This was some sort of twisted survival etiquette I suppose; so long as mommy and daddy had enough to eat they would be able to continue to ensure their family's survival. Sort of a rotten way to go about it don't you think?"

Sure enough, Lydia looked and acted as though she had never had the freedom to enjoy such a sumptuous feast before. She hardly knew where to turn first, and saliva poured from her open mouth like a waterfall as her head whipped around this way and that. Ghouls were coming in from every side, attracted to the little girl who smelled of old blood and clamoring to get a taste of it. Eventually Lydia made up her mind where to start over again and lunged forward to bite the face of a female, causing the other ghouls to stumble backwards and retreat slightly as Lydia and her prey fell with a thud to the floor. The undead servant struggled underneath the child's bony grip, and it could do nothing but groan and cry out as Lydia broke through the sternum and crushed its heart with her knee.

"The only thing she loves more than The Beatles is being a monster with abnormal strength." Alucard had told Seras, "I've recently tried to teach her to use a gun but she absolutely refuses to use anything but her teeth, hands and feet. I think she likes to deal the blows as harshly as she received them when her parents were alive. Her body was covered in bruises the night she became a vampire. I saw the violence firsthand whenever I looked into the home at night, but only on one or two occasions did I really see them beat her outside of the home or during the daylight hours. I suppose that was to save face in the eyes of the community. Children were seen as being sinful by nature and great pains were taken to squash the evil out of them. I suppose Lydia's father must have taken his parenting duties very seriously."

Now a male grabbed Lydia round the collar of her jumper's turtleneck as she ate, causing her to scream loudly and turn on the foul perpetrator. That was another thing Seras learned Lydia could do. Her screams had an almost demonic sound to them and were quite painful to hear if one should be in the vicinity. The screams managed to stun the enemy long enough to give her the opportunity to strike. Seras' hands were clapped over her ears while Lydia began beating the ghoul's brains out by smashing his head against the floor. She screamed all the while, causing the other ghouls to retreat. Seras took her hands off her ears long enough to fire shots at the retreating forms, stopping a crawling ghoul who had been severed at the torso by Lydia previously. The large colony of bats which had once perched on the ceiling of the basement now materialized from the shadows and began feasting on the immobile and mobile corpses. Three particularly large bats had taken to protecting Lydia as she continued her assault on the ghoul who had touched her. She beat him into the floor even after movement had ceased, only stopping when a new ghoul reached her way.

Throughout this whole ordeal none had really gone near Seras, for they would have been silenced with a gun, and she found her thoughts drifting as Lydia took care of business.

"There's one more thing you need to know before fighting beside her." Alucard had spoken with a rather serious tone, as though this should be the most important aspect of the child overall, "Her parents must have hit her hard enough to damage her brain at some point because she shows nearly all of the signs of trauma. Her cognitive functioning is very poor; sometimes she has trouble speaking or even understanding what's being said to her, so be sure to speak very slowly and calmly if you need her to do something for you. She can be easily frustrated if she doesn't understand what you're asking, and if you're not careful she can lash out with all that strength at you for the most subtle of movements in her direction. She's prone to extreme mood swings. So be mindful of her body language when approaching her during work and never, under any circumstances, touch her while she's eating. As I said before her moods are very unpredictable, and unfortunately I'll be the only one she ever really trusts around her food."

Mood swings hardly seemed fitting to describe the violence that Lydia showed to the ghouls who were now agitated and fighting to avenge their fallen comrades. She did nothing short of mutilating the dead bodies, not caring about food anymore but instead fueled by the lust to kill. Her bats now left the bones of the left over corpses and flapped around Lydia's head, furiously chattering in hellish little voices as they fluttered around like moths attracted to a central source of light. When finally the last ghoul had been ripped to shreds and dragged into the shadows by the bats, all became deathly silent. The third floor was finally cleared. It took Seras some time to realize this before she saw Lydia take off. The child was nearly tripping over her own shoes in her haste to reach the fourth floor.

"Lydia! Wait! Wait for me!" Seras cried out, her shoes making a futile sort of thumping sound against the rough wooden floors of the building as she gave chase to the little girl.

She ran up the staircase, making sure to keep Lydia's jumper in sight and cursing herself for bringing such a large weapon. It was very difficult maneuvering the gun around corners and keeping it from snagging on any railings. Should one false move be made, Seras was afraid the gun would malfunction. She couldn't afford that if Lydia decided to turn tail on her. Walter, Alucard and even Sir Integra herself on a rare visit stressed that it could be very possible for Lydia to try and escape, and should any attempts be made the best course of action would be immediate termination.

"Remember: aim for the head if she's traveling on foot. Aim for the heart if she's going to jump off a high place." Sir Integra had said, "I can't afford to have her running amok in another country turning others into ghouls or vampires."

Seras tailed the child for what felt like ages. It was quite a ways up the staircase before the child's shoes skidded to a halt at the entrance to the fourth floor. Seras had to stop herself early from running into Lydia and facing an altercation. When she looked around at what Lydia was staring at she found herself just as shocked. The fourth floor was extremely dark; void of any light save for that from the moon which filtered in through the windows and onto the bodies imbedded with bayonets that sparkled menacingly. Cautiously the two female vampires proceeded into the hall, one clutching a very large gun while the other crawled on the floor sniffing corpses like an animal.

"What did it?" Seras asked softly, "Was it the head vampire that killed all of them?"

Lydia's nose wrinkled in disgust when she sniffed one of the blades, and she began making strange clicking noises with her tongue and the roof of her mouth.

Seras ignored the clicks and knelt down to Lydia's level, reaching out to touch the blade imbedded in the heart of one of the bodies. Even before her fingertips grazed the handle she could feel its burning sting go through her glove and send a shock of pain to her mind, but for some reason she just could not take the hint and stop herself from touching it again. Curiosity won out in the end and she pressed a fingertip to the metal, receiving a harsh burn for her troubles which caused her skin to scorch and smoke from the effort.

"Is this a blessed blade?" she asked the child, making sure her voice was even and slow. She began nursing her hurt finger and suckling it as though it would help. Lydia stared blankly at the floor for a while, mulling over each word the young woman spoke before nodding in an almost solemn manner. When she caught sight of Seras' injury she looked perplexed.

"You're hurt?" Lydia murmured, moving in closer to squint at the tiny wound.

"It's not bad." Replied Seras quickly. Though she had managed to come to terms with Lydia's behavior she still was uneasy about the child's stench. Granted it wasn't as bad now that fresh blood masked the old, morbid as that was. Yet the stench was still there, metallic and unsettlingly fresh considering the lengths the little vampire had gone to just to make sure her meals did not move anymore. Lydia's face still bore brownish marks of drying blood from her meal down on the third floor, and she licked lazily at spots around her mouth with a pink tongue as she watched the police girl inch further away.

"I'll be alright." Seras said, scooting as far as she could without being rude, "I promise."

Lydia evidently wasn't convinced. She glanced from Seras' face to her hands and back again, growing more confused by the minute. Her brows contorted into a frown, and she looked at her shoes as though she were deep in contemplation. Eventually she spoke again.

"You're hurt." She repeated, this time a little more insistent and louder.

"I  _know_  Lydie." Seras groaned. She was feeling rather irritated with Lydia's persistence, wondering why the child was behaving so. There was a vague silence before Lydia spoke again.

"Here…"

The child rolled up her sleeve and offered her arm; a twig that was no more than thin bird-like bone covered with skin so pale it looked as though Lydia was frostbitten below the wrist. Her hands were black with grime built up from almost half a year of refusing a bath (so Alucard said, Seras suspected Lydia had gone far longer without).

"What are you doing Lydie?" Seras asked. She stared at Lydia's arm with some apprehension.

"You can have some." Lydia answered.

"Have what?"

"Blood."

Seras was disgusted. She recoiled and put a hand vaguely up to her nose as though trying to block out the scent of the pale arm. Why would the child think that three centuries of clotted blood was still edible even for a vampire? Never mind the sanitary aspects that sent Seras' germaphobic brain over the edge of disgust. She couldn't believe the child was offering her arm at a time like this, and wasted no time in letting her know.

"I'm not going to do that Lydia." She said, scrunching up her face in a frown, "That's unsani- er… That's dirty!"

"Is not…" Lydia insisted, "Will help…"

"I'm not having any. Thanks." Seras growled, and held out her hand in front of her.

It was then that Lydia decided to take a nice bite out of her arm and spit out the skin, offering Seras again the pale flesh now turned carmine with putrid blood that oozed from her open wound. Seras at first found herself opening her mouth to protest, until something almost primal stirred in her mind when she saw the dark liquid drip from Lydia's arm. It was as though there was no other delicious treat in the world than the dark stuff that dripped from the child's arm onto the floor and congealed in a pool bellow her feet. The wound was already beginning to close, but some picking and tinkering on Lydia's end hastened regeneration and allowed more red life to flow as though the clotted substance was molasses pouring sluggishly from a jar. It was tantalizing, the scent was not unlike that of a vintage wine to Seras' transformed senses, although to some other poor soul it would have had the smell of centuries old rot tinged with the slightest hint of mold.

 _Go on._  Said a kind voice inside Seras' mind,  _I give you my permission_.

That was almost enough to convince Seras, and indeed she started forward with her tongue almost moving past her lips in order to lap at the open wound like a dog. Yet there was something mistrustful in Lydia's eyes, and she hesitated before moving any further.

Seras then felt a new sort of burn make its way through her windpipe and burst out of her neck, causing her to gurgle in a strange sounding voice as though she was forced under water. It all happened so quickly that Lydia had even screamed aloud, moving backwards and covering her hands with her sleeves immediately shielding her opened flesh. Seras fell to the floor. Lydia watched with apprehensive eyes as the one who had hurt the young woman approached from the shadows, then shivering when Seras looked directly at her. The last thing Seras saw was Lydia skittering away and curl into a ball in the shadows, leaving her to her fate.

"Ye damn heathen…" came a deep, rumbling voice, "Clamorin' from the depths of Protestant hell to scavenge the left overs of my territory, of Catholic land."

The speaker stopped mid-sentence when he saw Lydia shivering.

"And ye've tried to damn the souls of the wee ones."

As though in a dream, Seras heard footsteps pass and saw the speaker- a tall man bathed in shadow with glasses that sparkled in the light from the window- approach Lydia with one of the bayonets glinting in his hand.

"You won' suffer any more child." He murmured, "Close your eyes and say your prayers. It migh' not be too late to save yer innocent soul…"

He extended a blade in the child's general direction, pointing it just over her heart as though preparing to plunge it through the worn wool of her jumper. Lydia's eyes widened and the corners of her mouth twitched, and Seras tried to stop her before she opened her mouth.

"L…Lydie… don…t…" she gurgled.

But it was too late.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let me take you down, because I'm going to Strawberry Fields  
> Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about  
> Strawberry Fields forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: School is hell… So not conducive to a fan fiction writing environment but I'm trying my best to get good grades this semester. Hell… Even my creative writing class is a bust... Have to deal with really restricting writing prompts and it sucks because the teacher grades the piece based on how well we followed every. Single. Fucking. Requirement. God give me the patience because if I get the strength I'm going to throw a desk across the room…
> 
> So, as a special treat I made this chapter extra-long to make up for the long ass hiatus I've been on. I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience, but I was just really in the zone with this piece. Anderson's whole speech going on there was found online. Just looked up some last rights prayers. Kind of sad but it fits the situation I suppose. Sounds like something a Catholic would do while preparing to kill a vampire (I wouldn't know the prayers exactly, even if I am Catholic myself… Hell these might not even Catholic prayers but finding dialogue for Anderson is hard as hell… Work with me people).
> 
> Hellsing © Kouta Hirano
> 
> Lydia Palmer © KoroMarimo/Myheartstillbleedsforyou

Lydia opened her mouth and let forth the most ear-splitting screech yet, causing the man to stumble backward. There was nothing that Seras could do to prepare for the shock. She still remained vulnerable on the floor where she bled out her life's essence. The sound waves reverberated around the room and hurt Seras' ear drums so badly that everything went deathly silent after a while. She thought Lydia had stopped the noise, but when she looked up and realized Lydia's mouth was still open, she finally understood that she had merely gone temporarily deaf.

Much like the poor unfortunate ghoul on the third floor, now it was time for the shadow man to meet his demise by the psychotic child who played the part of monster so very well. Lydia leapt high into the air and came down upon the man with her long nails and teeth, ignoring the scorching bayonets that burned her skin and gave her wounds that hurt to heal from. Instead she lunged right for her attacker's face where she managed to claw out a nice chunk of flesh before being flung across the hallway, a blade cutting through her jumper and into the thin bone of her shoulder. Although she lacked necessary experience for fighting that her assailant possessed, she made up for it with agility and split decision thinking that bore no true regard for safety. The man's priestly garb sparkled with vampire's blood in the moonlight, revealing him to be a holy man with the rage of the Lord burning deep within his heart. He sweated and stabbed the relentless creature with the same ferocious disregard for his own life. He was presently rewarded for his tenacity, and managed to bury several of his blessed blades into Lydia's chest. Her heart remained unscathed however, it seemed the priest was waiting for something before killing her, and when he spoke he seemed almost heartbroken that such a child would be so tainted by the devil and his minions.

"There will be forgiveness for yer transgressions when death comes, I will be sure of it. There now, don' struggle." He murmured his soft words when at last Lydia was pinned like a butterfly on a board to the wooden floor, flopping and screeching helplessly while Seras looked on in agony. She could hear everything now, and wished she could do something to help free the young creature and go for Master Alucard. Yet what could she do? She was just as weakened by the silver, she could barely breathe let alone call someone to their aid. All seemed hopeless, and without some sort of alert how could master know to come?

"Oh holy hosts of heaven, I call upon thee as a servant of Jesus Christ," spoke the man to the heavens, "Tae sanctify my actions this nigh' in preparation fer the fulfilment of the will of God..."

He raised a bayonet into the air with a flourish, ready to utilize it like an axe to lop off Lydia's head. Seras strained to crawl away but was stopped with a blade to the hand and back, causing her to continue gurgling in vain for she could hardly stand to scream aloud. Even Lydia's screams were nothing more than futile little whimpers of pain as a blade buried itself into her heart.

"I call upon thee Raphael, master of air, tae open the way fer this deed tae be done. Let the fire of the holy spirit now descend that this being might be awakened tae the world beyond and the life of earth, and infused with the power of the Holy Spirit."

Lydia thrashed her legs. Her trainers hit the floor with a loud rhythmic thumping as the blade inched its way into her thin flesh. Her neck was so thin: one good thrust and the deed would have been done within five minutes. Yet the priest did not decapitate the child quite yet. He drew out his words and let her struggle long enough to tire herself out. At one point he even made the sign of the cross over her and caused her to thrash more strongly than before. Seras felt he said the prayers as much for her as he did for Lydia, his free hand moved in her direction every now and again with a new sliver blade looming dangerously in it, and after a while he too made the sign of the cross over her body.

"And thus do I commend thee intae the arms of our Lord of earth, our Lord Jesus Christ, preserver of all mercy and reality, and the Father Creator. Ashes tae ashes, dust tae dust. Sleep now soundly wee one… 'twill be over quickly."

It was at that exact moment that he raised the bayonet, ready to lop off Lydia's head that a gunshot rang out into the night. The blade of the priest's weapon separated from the handle, and it fell helplessly to the floor.

"That will be enough priest." Came a harsh, unyielding voice. Seras looked up weakly, and had she been a right state of mind she might have rejoiced loudly.

Here came Alucard now from the shadowy depths, approaching the scene with his large silver gun pointing in the priest's general direction. A dark haze filled the room, blotting out the light of the moon save for a few beams which glinted on the blades embedded in the corpses. Lydia was silent, and for a second Seras wondered if the child was dead.

_Wrong tense…_  came the teasing voice in her head which sounded vaguely like Master Alucard,  _She was already dead to begin with. She_ will _live to eat another day however._

"Lydie…" Seras said, feeling right enough to look around slowly. She saw the child's form in the corner of her eye. Bats flew silently around the child's head and swooped low over her wanting mouth, regurgitating miniscule drops of blood and allowing her the strength to dissolve into the dark mist and mingle with it. Alucard's distraction allowed her to escape, passing by Seras like a shadow and causing a startling chill when the mist moved over her body. Little hands pressed against her, and Seras felt herself being pushed further away from the priest and nearer to Master Alucard.

"So, yer the one turnin' the children to the devil." The priest growled, "Hellsing's vampire?"

"And you would be the only one stupid enough to try and save her soul." Alucard replied, he kept his eyes trained on the priest as Lydia congealed behind her master, "Unfortunately your efforts will be in vain. She chose to traffic with the devil willingly. Now clear off. This is our job to complete."

The priest stepped forward into the moonlight, preparing for another battle and muttering prayers under his breath. Lydia squatted down near Seras and jerked roughly at the bayonet sticking out of her neck. After encountering some resistance it finally gave, and Seras found she could breathe again. She continued tugging until there was only three left stuck in her back, but the two only just managed to move out of the way before metal clashed on metal; Alucard had only just managed to block an attack from the priest with his handgun, wielding it as though it were a sword. The priest rushed forward and the girls moved quickly out of the way, avoiding Alucard's shoe as he stumbled backwards and fired. His aim was true, and the priest was floored immediately upon contact. Lydia fled to the end of the hallway with Seras following on all fours, much too weak to stand and still laboring for breath as she crawled.

"Stay where you are." Alucard commanded, "I'll pull the rest of the blades out. You're not strong enough-"

Seras heard metal make contact with something she prayed was not flesh as she tried to crawl to Lydia who was still hiding in the shadows. Droplets splattered her legs, and when she finally found the courage to turn around she found herself face to face with the master's head. It lay in a pool of congealed blood on the floor, his eyes still open wide with shock. Lydia's eyes wide when she heard the priest's maniacal laughter. Alucard's body lay on the floor with his severed head only a few centimeters away from Seras' legs, and the priest was much too mad with the joy of killing the mighty Hellsing Organization's trump card to pay attention to the two.

"MASTER!" Seras bawled.

"Is tha' all?!" he hooted, "Is tha' the mighty King of the Vampires? Hahaha!  _Pathetic_!"

He continued to laugh, and Seras found the strength to pull herself up.

"Run Lydia! Run!" she whispered fiercely.

The child was frozen with terror. She looked towards Seras, and then at Alucard's decapitated body. Her knees began to buckle, and the child weakly gripped the wall.

"Just run! We have to go!" Seras hissed.

Lydia glanced towards Seras, towards the priest, back to Alucard's body. She did not move a step. She was much too hypnotized by her caretaker's body to do anything, and it seemed for a moment that she might begin to cry.

"Don't look at it!" insisted Seras, taking Alucard's head behind her back and standing in front of Alucard's body to hide it, "Run! Don't look back, just run away Lydia!"

A hesitant step backward. Blood red eyes met cornflower blue. True, unmitigated fear permeated from her little face, yet still she did not move.

" _Run Goddamn you!_ " Seras screeched.

Silence. And then the unmistakable sound of trainers beating against the wooden floors as Lydia took off for the corridor, leaving Seras behind in the dust. After collecting herself long enough to ignore the pain the police woman stumbled after, trying to keep Lydia in sight as she ran.

"Run Lydia! Run away!" she cried.

The child glanced back once, as though to make sure she was being followed. Seras wished desperately she had something to throw at her. Why couldn't she just follow orders and run?

" _I said do not look back!_ " Seras bellowed, " _Keep running you damn fool! Run!_ "

Suddenly, as though someone had struck a match under her, Lydia began to speed off into the shadows. She was much too fast in her haste to escape and was soon gone. It was as though she had allowed the walls to swallow her up. Seras was relieved, until she realized that the child's escape was the last thing that she wanted to deal with now that there was no Master to remain in control. Sir Integra's words came back to haunt the police woman, and she felt an overwhelming dread in her heart begin take over the fear of the priest.

"Lydia!" cried Seras, "Lydia wait!"

There was only silence.

"Please don't leave me alone!" Seras cried.

Nothing. Lydia was gone, probably out and about running amok in the outside world. Seras continued her futile pursuit, calling out to the child and hoping that she was just hiding in the shadows or crawling the walls. She made it as far as the second floor when she realized the footsteps of the priest were close behind her, trailing every move she made. Seras looked around, thinking perhaps Lydia had chosen to make her escape through the window. Yet there wasn't so much as an opening fit for a mouse; the windows were sealed with papers containing unreadable talismans, held in place with those damned silver blades. They gave off the same burning sensation whenever she got too close, and they seemed to be leading her in a straight line. Tell-tale signs she was walking straight into a trap.

"Oh shit…" Seras whined, "He's gone and blocked off everything! Lydia! Lydia where are you!?"

Multiple rapports of a gun sounded from somewhere within the depths of the house and stopped Seras mid run down the hall. She fell to the ground shaking, imagining that the priest had not come alone and that Lydia's brains were surely now painted all over the floor below. Courtesy of some equally psychotic Catholic who was probably coming for her too.

"What do I do…" she whimpered, "Oh God… What do I do now?"

She glanced this way and that, completely panic stricken and feeling as though she was already speeding straight to hell. Tears dripped down her cheeks, and she began to sob as Alucard's head fell and rolled helplessly across the floor.

- _my blood._

"What?!" Seras cried aloud. That was Alucard's voice, but… Shouldn't he be dead?

_Drink my blood._

"Master?" Seras sobbed, "Master where are you?!"

_That's irrelevant._  Said his scolding voice.  _Drink my blood now, and join the ranks of our clan._

"Wha- ahh!"

His head began to melt, blood coagulating on the floor and moving towards Seras as though it had a mind of its own. Seras fell to her knees, much too weak to think. First Lydia had offered, now came Alucard's offer from beyond the grave. What could their blood possibly do to help her now? Both were obviously dead, what use would it be to drink now?

_Drink the blood police girl- no! Seras Victoria! Drink it now and become complete!_

"Bu-but! But!" she stuttered, she couldn't think straight. She could do nothing except stare at the blood which moved towards her like a snake. And then she heard it. The tiny, unmistakable voice of the fall wind which made her snap back into reality and realize the severity of what was being asked of her.

_Seras._  Whispered the tiny voice.  _Not bad… Will help…_

"Lydia?!" she cried.

"Ye will join the childer soon. Goodnight lass."

Seras turned and screamed. The priest raised his blade and prepared to end Seras Victoria, but was yet again shot down by speeding silver bullets. Here came Sir Integra now from the darkness of the hallway, followed closely by two men in suits and dark glasses that moved in unison with her steps.

"Clear off Anderson." The tall woman growled, "This is not your jurisdiction. You're in clear violation of the treaty, and if you don't leave now there will be repercussions the likes of which have never been seen before. No matter if you're with Section XIII. There will be a great religious crisis situation, and I've no patience to deal with inferiors at this time."

"And why should I be givin' ye the ground?" he sneered, "Protestant trash. Yer not fit tae walk the earth!"

"Because my vampire will make sure you're dead and buried if you continue your insolence." She replied. Anderson's laugh echoed throughout the building once again, causing Seras to wince and shirk away from him next to the pool of blood where Alucard's head once lay where she dropped it.

"Tha' weak thing?" he snickered, "Ah've cut off his head! He's no more! Tha' beastie has already been sent speedin' down to hell!"

"Cut off his head?" Sir Integra replied, "You've cut off his head and you think that is the end of him?"

Now it was her turn to laugh, holding her sides as though they were about to burst at any moment. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and this angered the priest. His eyes sparkled with fury, and he rushed the woman and killed her escorts before they could even reach for their weapons. Sir Integra was pinned against the wall, face to face with Anderson and never once losing her calm and collected manner. Though she still chuckled as though she found the entire situation very amusing.

"You'll never win Anderson." She said after she stopped her laughter, "You can cut off his head at your leisure. You can stake him through the heart and chop him into little pieces and it will not matter. No matter what you do, he will always come back. That is what the Hellsing Organization hath wrought. We not only have a vampire, we have the  _ultimate vampire_  at our disposal."

"Master!"

Anderson turned abruptly to see the crimson vampire standing behind him, his grin almost splitting his face in half. Alucard's sharp teeth glittered in the moonlight, and his hand rested upon his weapon.

"Well?" he asked gently, "Shall we have another go?"

"Ah've not the weapons tae deal with this one yet…" said the priest lowly. He backed away from Sir Integra and she moved away from the wall.

"Hellsing…" said Anderson, retreating deeper into the shadows until only his glasses were visible, "We will meet agin. An' yer vampire and the childer won' be around tae protect ye any longer."

A flourish of papers containing the word swarmed the priest and he was suddenly gone, his overwhelming presence no longer darkening the hallways of the infested building. Seras breathed. For the first time she realized that she had been holding her breath throughout the entire altercation. She expected another brawl and had been ready to retreat again, but relief washed over her when the priest made his disappearance. Her knees shook still however, and she had to lean on her weapon for support.

"Why didn't you drink the blood?" Alucard demanded, his stare directed towards Seras was severe and his eyes glimmering in menacing orange.

"I… ah..." Seras stuttered. She couldn't think of anything to say, but Alucard repeated the question with murder written in his eyes.

"I… I felt if I did… something important would come to an end…" Seras whispered, "I thought if I did, I would become… well…"

_Like Lydia._  She wanted to say, but she couldn't muster the courage to say the words aloud.

Alucard said nothing. Instead he undid his cravat and shirt, then began descending the stairs down to the first floor. Seras followed sadly behind him, contrite and looking very much like she wanted to ask forgiveness. It was then she noticed Lydia sprawled out on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Alucard paused before the child and stooped low to pick her up. As each hand reached under her arms before heaving her up to her feet, Seras noticed her little chest heaving with fear, her body was limp and she looked dazed from the bullet hole that oozed blood down her face.

"Hurts…" whispered Lydia.

The No Life King stood Lydia on her feet and began to dig his fingers into the bullet holes on her arms and legs, removing the silver bullets which had left no exit wounds. He threw the bullets carelessly to the floor and held out his arms wide, allowing Lydia to collapse into them so that she might be lifted up. His neck was visible and there was an unspoken moment of offering, but Lydia did not indulge quickly as per custom. She merely grunted in pain and nibbled his skin with her front teeth. Pinpricks of blood touched her lips and she put her head down to lap half-heartedly at the wound. No sound came from her, and Seras wished with all her might that the child would start up that blasted slurping again. At least it would dispel the tension between her and the master.

"I would have thought you had common sense." Alucard growled when he finally decided to acknowledge his second fledgling, "When the opportunity comes, it is but once in a lifetime that it will be offered. Here you were offered twice, sooner than I would have expected. Yet it seems there is no room for a simpleton to enter the ranks of a true vampire…"

Seras flinched at the cruel words and put her head down in shame.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, "I just… I can't do it... I'm not ready."

"You will forever be of the lowest status with that pathetic human mentality. I allowed it for a while, it was humorous seeing the contrast of stubborn humanity in a grown woman versus the easy acceptance of a child. But now… I see perhaps I should have been a better judge of character and stamped out this impudence before I gave it a chance to flourish-"

He stopped here, for a groan from Lydia interrupted his words. The child pushed and struggled her way out of his arms and flopped onto the floor, chest heaving as though she could not manage to breathe. For a brief instant concern was etched across Alucard's face and he fell to his knees, placing his hands on Lydia's shoulders and lifting up her torso in an effort to steady her. He opened his mouth to ask what was the matter, yet he never got as far as that. For she took sick right then and there. Slop ran down her mouth and her jumper, finally congealing in a hot sticky puddle onto the floor where the old blood of ghouls long dead glittered in the moonlight.

"Filthy hell beast!" Sir Integra cried, and immediately covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief while Lydia continued emptying the contents of her stomach. Seras followed pursuit with her gloved hands, though she did not dare open her mouth to express her disgust for fear she would take sick as well. The stench of Lydia's mess alone was so powerful and rotting that even her eyes watered. Alucard did not move, even though he was nearest to the stench. He simply kneeled by Lydia and stayed there until the spasms brought on by regurgitation ceased and Lydia was left shaking, her eyes half lidded and glazed over as though she was ready to die. She nearly toppled over into her own sick before Alucard grabbed her shoulders again. He brought the child to her feet and pulled off her filthy jumper, wiping her mouth and neck with the sleeve before handing the ruined garment to her. Her undershirt was clean thankfully, and Lydia seemed to shiver in the sleeveless top without her wool jumper to protect her from the night air.

"What the hell was that about?!" Sir Integra demanded. She was not disturbed by the child's gruesome display, and her annoyance must have frightened Lydia for she ran behind Alucard.

"Is she not capable of cleaning up an infestation any longer? Or did I make the mistake of over indulging this selfish child?"

Alucard looked towards Lydia. Her face was still contorted in pain, and she couldn't stop shaking her head from side to side.

"Lydia?" he asked. His voice was harsh, etched with disappointment.

"Stomach ache…" she muttered, "Not good… Not good food… Bad!"

"What was bad about it?"

Lydia shook her head again, eyes screwed shut.

"Bad taste. Bad… Bad things inside! Taste awful. Tastes like… Metal."

He paused once and bent down to run his fingers through the liquid. He stirred the mess over and over in in his hand, and frowned often. He looked back at Lydia. She was still engaged in the same repetitive movement, unable to stop until he called her name once. Her eyes fell on him and she grimaced yet again, clutching her ruined jumper to her stomach and letting out a tiny whine.

"I think she might have eaten something very interesting." Alucard told Integra, "It looks as though she did get a little greedy and swallowed bits of skin. But come look at this one in particular."

With great reluctance, the head of Hellsing came closer to inspect what her subordinate had just vomited up.

"What in the hell…" said Integra. Her eyes were wide; the skin of the ghouls sparkled in the moon's light with a large square of metal sitting placidly atop the membrane, wires rooted so deep that they had become one with the cells. It was as though the chip had just been waiting there all this time, waiting to be discovered by the greedy little child who had over indulged as though the bodies had been some sort of treat. Lydia hiccupped, and spittle dribbled down her chin.


End file.
